George Atherton Aitken

“ Besides the books already mentioned, Oldmixon published ‘Court Tales,’ 1717, and a ‘Life’ prefixed to ‘Nixon's Cheshire Prophecy,’ 1719, besides, of course, anonymous pamphlets, translations, &c., which have been forgotten. Of these the ‘History and Life of Robert Blake’ has been already mentioned. His historical work has little value now, as his main object in writing it was to promote the cause of his party. He never hesitated in attacking those on the other side, whether dead or living. ”

“ Swift frequently dined with him, often in company with Prior, Ford, Harley, or St. John. In April 1711 Swift asked Archbishop King to direct letters for him under cover to Lewis, at Lord Dartmouth's office. In December, when the tories feared things were going against them, Lewis talked of nothing but retiring to his estate in Wales; but Lord Oxford declared that he had not ‘the soul of a chicken nor the heart of a mite.’ Meanwhile the negotiations for a peace with France were proceeding, and Swift often consulted Lewis about political pamphlets which he was writing or editing. ”

“ Johnson gave Boswell the true version: 'Sir, he was impertinent to me, and I beat him. But it was not in his shop: it was in my own chamber' (Boswell, ed. Croker, pp. 46, 613) . The Rev. A. M. Toplady (Memoirs, by W. Winters, p. 45) says that the volume thrown was Johnson's 'Dictionary,' while the doctor was on a ladder in his room. Mrs. Piozzi adds that Johnson remarked that Osborne, being a blockhead, told of his beating: others who had been beaten by Johnson had the wit to hold their tongues (Piozzi, Anecdotes, p. 233) . ”

“ Dr. Johnson unfairly said (Idler, No. 65) that the authenticity of Clarendon's ‘History’ was brought in question ‘by the two lowest of all human beings—a scribbler for a party and a commissioner of excise,’ i.e. Oldmixon and Duckett. The second volume of Oldmixon's history, ‘The History of England during the Reigns of King William and Queen Mary, Queen Anne, King George I: With a large Vindication of the Author against the groundless Charge of Partiality,’ appeared in 1735; and the third, ‘The History of England during the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth,’ in 1739. ”

“ Pennecuik was a friend of most of the Scottish gentlemen interested in letters to whom Allan Ramsay expresses his obligations. Ramsay visited at Newhall, but not, apparently, until it had passed out of Pennecuik's hands, and there seems no doubt that Newhall was the scene of the ‘Gentle Shepherd.’ It does not follow, however, that Pennecuik, as has been surmised, suggested to Ramsay the plot of that pastoral poem, which, indeed, did not appear in its complete form until three years after Pennecuik's death ”

“ Oldmixon's work as an historian began in 1708, when he published in two volumes ‘The British Empire in America,’ a history of the several colonies written to show the advantage to England of the American plantations. ”

“ OLDMIXON, JOHN (1673–1742) , historian and pamphleteer, was a member of an ancient family which had been settled at Axbridge, Somerset, as early as the fourteenth century, and afterwards held the manor of Oldmixon, near Bridgwater. The historian's father, John Oldmixon of Oldmixon, gentleman, by his will of 1675, proved in April 1679 by his daughters Hannah and Sarah Oldmixon, left to his son John his best cabinet; and when Elinor Oldmixon of Bridgwater, widow, died in 1689, letters of administration were granted to her children, John Oldmixon and Hannah Legg. ”

“ In 1653 Killigrew published a corrected version of the play, in folio, with a fresh title, ‘Pallantus and Eudora.’ The preface states that Ben Jonson had praised it; while, according to Langbaine, Lord Falkland defended it against some critics by saying that the author was only seventeen (really twenty-one) when he put language suited for a man of thirty into the mouth of a lad of seventeen. The play shows some skill for a youthful author. Sir Charles Sedley's ‘Tyrant King of Crete’ was an adaptation from Killigrew's play. ”

“ At the end of 1710 King published his ‘Historical Account of the Heathen Gods and Heroes,’ a compilation which was used in schools for many years, and for which the author was paid 50l. In 1711 he wrote a bitter attack upon the Duke of Marlborough, which was published late in the year, with the date 1712, entitled ‘Rufinus, or an Historical Essay on the favourite Ministry under Theodosius and his son Arcadius,’ with a poem, ‘Rufinus, or the Favourite,’ annexed. In December 1711 King, on Swift's recommendation, was appointed to succeed Steele in the post of gazetteer. ”

“ He thought this his best work, and described many of his later writings as ‘by the author of “A Journey to London.”’ A poem, ‘The Furmetory,’ was published in 1699, and others were circulated in manuscript. In 1700 King published anonymously ‘The Transactioner, with some of his Philosophical Fancies, in two Dialogues,’ a satire upon Sir Hans Sloane, who edited the ‘Transactions’ of the Royal Society. In 1701 King defended his friend the Earl of Anglesea in an action for separation brought by the countess. He is said to have shown ability in spite of his usual indolence. ”

“ Bentley attacked King in his famous ‘Dissertation’ (1699) ; and in the same year appeared ‘A Short Account of Dr. Bentley's Humanity and Justice,’ with a second letter from King to Boyle. King probably gave other help to Boyle, and, according to Pope, as reported by Warburton, contributed the droll argument to prove that Bentley was not the author of the ‘Dissertation’ and the index (Letters from an Eminent Prelate, 1809, p. 11) . King's ‘Dialogues of the Dead,’ 1699, one of his cleverest productions, attacks Bentley in a series of ten dialogues. ”

“ Oliphant of Lanton, Midlothian, and Pennecuik gave with her the estate of Newhall. Her husband, however, got into debt, and in 1703 Newhall was sold to Sir David Forbes, father to John Forbes, Pennecuik's friend and Ramsay's patron. Pennecuik lived at Romanno until his death, when he left that property to a younger daughter, who had married Mr. Farquharson of Kirktown of Boyne, Aberdeenshire.
Pennecuik's works were reprinted at Edinburgh in 1762 (‘A Collection of curious Scots Poems ... by Alexander Pennecuik’) ; at Leith in 1815, ‘with copious notes;’ and again at Edinburgh in 1875. ”

“ It has been suggested that Pennecuik was the author of ‘The Flight of Religious Piety from Scotland upon account of Ramsay's Lewd Books,’ published about 1736, on the ground that he was a frequent rival or imitator of Ramsay. Pennecuik's own writings are constantly marred by obscenity ”

“ Killigrew had a salary of 100l. a year as chaplain and almoner to the Duke of York (Hist. MSS. Comm. 8th Rep. pt. i. p. 278) , and in 1663 he was appointed master of the Savoy, in succession to Sheldon. Killigrew's sister, Lady Shannon, was one of Charles II's mistresses.
According to some writers the final ruin of the Savoy Hospital was the result of Killigrew's improvidence and greed. A bill was passed in 1697 abolishing its privileges of sanctuary. The hospital was leased out in tenements, and the master appropriated the profits ”

“ PENNECUIK, ALEXANDER, M.D. (1652–1722) , physician and poet, born in 1652, was the eldest son of Alexander Pennecuik of Newhall, Edinburgh, who had been a surgeon under General Bannier in the thirty years' war, and afterwards in the army sent from Scotland into England in 1644. In 1646 the elder Pennecuik bought from the Crichtons the estate of Newhall on the North Esk ”

“ To Newhall he added, by his marriage with Margaret Murray, the estate of Romanno, on the other side of West Linton, in Tweeddale. An Alexander Pennecuik took the degree of M.A. at Edinburgh on 18 July 1664 (Cat. of Edinburgh Graduates, 1858, p. 88) ; but we know nothing definite about young Pennecuik's medical education. Allusions in his poems, and his knowledge of modern languages, show that he travelled in Spain and other countries. ”

“ According to Pope, Lewis was corpulent. Swift, Arbuthnot, Pope, Gay, and Lord Oxford all agree in the high value they placed on his friendship. Lord Oxford speaks of his punctuality, and Arbuthnot of the engaging manner with which he won ladies' money at ombre. ”

“ Martin's Lane, London, shortly before the Restoration, and was christened privately, as the offices of the common prayer were not then publicly allowed. Her father was chaplain to the Duke of York, and in due course she became maid of honour to Mary of Modena, duchess of York ”

“ Some time after his arrival, in 1700 or 1701, he became secretary to the English ambassador, the Earl of Manchester, and when the earl was recalled to England in September 1701 he remained behind to wind up affairs. ”

“ Broome House, Fulham, is said to have been his residence, but was more probably that of his son (Thorne, Environs of London, p. 224) . In November 1735 he was nominated high sheriff for Sussex, but he did not live to enjoy the honour, which was, however, at once bestowed upon his son. ”

“ In 1696, when Oldmixon was twenty-three, he published ‘Poems on several Occasions, written in Imitation of the Manner of Anacreon, with other Poems, Letters, and Translations,’ and a dedication to Lord Ashley, in which he said that most of the poems were written by a person in love. ”

“ Her own verses are forgotten, but she seems to have been a woman of sincere piety and much charm of character. Dryden alludes to paintings of James II and his queen by Anne Killigrew, and to pictures of country scenery. Three of her paintings are mentioned in her poems, and six others were sold in her brother Admiral Killigrew's collection in 1727. Besides Becket's engraving of Anne Killigrew, an engraving was made by Chambers from her own painting for Walpole's ‘Anecdotes of Painting;’ and there is a scarce mezzotint from the same painting by Blosteling. ”

“ On 13 Oct. 1700 Lintot was married at St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield, to one Katherine, who was born in January 1664. A son, Henry, was born in 1703. In 1702 he published ‘Examen Miscellaneum, consisting of verse and prose,’ and besides books on graver subjects he afterwards published poems and plays for Pope, Gay, Farquhar, William King, Fenton, Parnell, Steele, Rowe, &c. Farquhar received from 15l. to 30l. each for his plays, Gay 43l. each for ‘Trivia’ and ‘Three Hours after Marriage,’ King 32l. 5s. each for the ‘Art of Cookery’ and the ‘Art of Love,’ Rowe 50l. ”

“ About 1690 he published an amusing ‘Dialogue shewing the way to Modern Preferment.’ In November 1692 he obtained a fiat from Archbishop Tillotson admitting him an advocate at Doctors' Commons. He continued to use his talents as a humorous writer upon the side of the tories and high church party. ”

“ It was to be performed before the king on occasion of the marriage of the eldest son of the fourth Earl Pembroke to the daughter of the first Duke of Buckingham, and it was afterwards acted at the Blackfriars Theatre. ”

“ He is charged with being very insolent to his customers, affronting them if they would not buy some publication of his own ; but Toplady says that Osborne, who was his own bookseller, was a very respectable man. ”

“ His last work ‘Memoirs of the Press, Historical and Political, for Thirty Years Past, from 1710 to 1740,’ with a dedication to the Duchess of Marlborough, was not published until immediately after his death (London Magazine, 1742, p. 364) . ”

“ The following pieces appeared in separate form: 1. ‘Caledonia Triumphans,’ broadside, 1699, reprinted in Laing's ‘Various Pieces of Fugitive Scotch Poetry,’ 1823. 2. ‘A Panegyric to the King,’ broadside, 1699. 3. ”

“ By his will, proved 7 March 1743 (Prer. Court of Canterbury, 76 Anstis) , he left his stock, copyrights, &c, to his son Thomas, together with the house in which the son lived in Fulwood's Rents, and his interest in a house in Bury Street, St. ”